An arborist specialises in diagnosing and treating sick or damaged trees, including removing trees when necessary.
Professional arborists provide tree removal, tree maintenance, tree diagnosis, planning and design. They can design and install drought-resistant gardens suited to the local environment and planting conditions.
Arborists can also be known as a tree doctor. Qualified arborists could also offer advice on soil erosion, woody plants, leaf loss, planting trees and when trim trees are needed. Tree specialists suggest how to maintain complex trees, young trees and other trees,Arborists generally work by providing their professional expertise to non-commercial entities (e.g., homeowners), which seek assistance with tree care issues involving risk assessment, diagnosis of problems and development of management strategies.
A certified arborist inspects trees for signs of disease and/or damage, which requires a great deal of climbing, pulling ropes and tools. Arborists may also provide design services for tree or landscape plans. As more people become interested in controlling the growth of their trees, arborists are shifting from simply cutting down diseased or problematic trees to teaching clients about proper pruning techniques and other management practices that will help maintain the health of healthy trees.
Take soil samples during a site inspection.
Remove trees that pose safety or property hazard.
Diagnose tree health problems or damage.
Plant trees.
Tree-lopping work involves taking out whole trees by sawing them into pieces on site, often at great heights. If we say that there is a vast difference between these two then it is not wrong.
An arborist who is certified through a professional organisation can have years of experience about the related careers and receive very high marks on a variety of knowledge and safety tests.
An acceptable tree care industry standard is to charge $70-$100 per hour, with a minimum fee (usually 1 hour) and price breaks for service performed during evenings or weekends. A small job like trimming trees around power lines may only take a couple of hours, but larger jobs like removing several dead or dying trees could take several days and involve heavy equipment that needs to be rented in addition to the crew's time.
Most states and councils require a certified arborist to work on any tree over a certain height. Certification demonstrates knowledge and experience in all aspects of practical tree care including plant health care needs for individual species and cultivars, planting and pruning techniques, structural support systems such as bracing and cabling, tree preservation strategies during construction, tree risk assessment and tree protection methods.
Arborists learn how to scale trees by putting on a climbing harness, attaching themselves to an anchor point or rope and scaling up or down the tree with the use of climbing spurs While ascending, arborists are equipped with tools including pruning saws for cutting branches, chisels for removing trunk bark so they can access cabling systems installed in the tree's upper reaches, bucket trucks that raise them up into the canopy and chainsaws. After completing a climb, they may have to lower themselves back down the same way they went up if their equipment is not sufficient for the descent. In some cases where a climber is wearing a harness and it is possible in order to find another anchor point on the opposite side of the tree, they can make use of a "rappel" system in order to get back down safely using multiple ropes while carrying their gear with them. It is kind of a dangerous work.
There are a number of training courses available for individuals who want to become arborists, including college classes and certificates from private tree-training schools. Australian qualifications framework offers a great degree in the arborist. Students will able to learn about tree planting and the tree services of the indiviudual trees.
Overall, becoming an arborist involves going through a multi-stage process of gaining knowledge, experience and certification in the field. Typically, this involves completing a degree at an accredited university with a focus on horticulture or environmental science with courses in arboriculture. After graduating, would-be arborists spend time gaining practical experience by working as part of a small crew for one or more certified arborists. Find out more information from the Australian Government's Your Career website.